Alex Carson
Hollywood is filled with depressing tales of child actors who were forced to grow up too fast, but Tuesday Weld just might be the ultimate example of a former child actor who endured great hardship throughout her five-decade spanning career. Weld’s penchant for scandal and controversy often made the people around her very uncomfortable, but she still somehow managed to became a full-fledged star.
After progressing to more mature roles in the late 50s, Weld won a Golden Globe for Most Promising Female Newcomer in 1960. Throughout the following decade, she firmly established herself in Tinsel Town by playing dramatic roles in a handful of major motion pictures.
Weld often portrayed reckless and impulsive women who would act out sexually. When the cameras weren’t rolling, however, her personal life often mirrored the roles she would play on screen. While she has suffered a great deal throughout her life, she, unfortunately, hasn’t received the same kind of attention that troubled actors like Judy Garland and Shirley Temple did.
In this video, we’ll be taking a closer look at some of the more shocking and sensational moments of her life story. While much of her story is filled with details that might seem challenging to understand from a moral standpoint, it wasn’t all doom and gloom.
At the the end of the day, Tuesday had a lot of pressure put on her shoulders from a very young age. She likewise received very little assistance navigating her way through stardom. That being said, she’s still considered to be one of the most iconic stars of the silver screen of her day. Keep watching to learn more about Weld’s wild life story and how she managed to find success despite being dealt a very difficult hand. As we tell you her fascinating story, we’ll be sharing some rare photos that likely will change the way you think about this once incredibly popular actor.
Facts Verse Presents: Tuesday Weld Never Wore Underwear – See Her Photos
She Never Had It Easy
Susan Ker Weld, better known by her stage name Tuesday Weld, was born on one fateful Friday on August 27, 1943, in the bustling heart of Manhattan. Despite her family’s name being associated with wealth, Weld’s upbringing was anything but privileged. Her father ultimately did not inherit the family’s fortune, and so the family’s financial situation was often uncertain and precarious, living in constant fear of falling from their tenuous perch at any moment.
Weld’s father, Lathrop Motley Weld, was considered the outcast of the family due to his addictions and scandalous romantic history. Weld’s mother was actually Lathrop’s fourth wife, which added to the family’s sense of instability. The only redeeming quality of Lathrop was his access to his family’s wealth, as it was the only thing keeping the family afloat. Without it, Weld and her family would have faced a great deal of financial hardship.
At the age of just four, Susan Weld faced her first major crisis when her father, Lathrop, passed away suddenly, leaving the family in dire financial straits. Weld’s mother, Yosene Balfour Ker, was left to raise three children with no source of income. In a time of great need, she hoped and prayed for a guardian angel to help her family survive, but what she received was not what she expected.
Despite their best efforts, Weld’s mother and siblings were struggling to make ends meet in a shabby and cramped apartment located in a run-down Manhattan slum. Recognizing their desperate situation, Weld’s father’s wealthy family, who resided in the affluent community of Tuxedo Park, extended a helping hand by offering a home and education for the children. While this generous offer was undoubtedly a blessing, there was one catch that made it seem especially cruel.
The Weld family offered to rescue Tuesday and her siblings from their dire situation, but with one brutal condition: the children were to never see their mother again. This demand was rooted in the Welds’ belief that Yosene came from a less-than-desirable background. Although Yosene’s father was an accomplished Canadian-American illustrator who had his drawings published in Life Magazine, she was, in fact, an orphan. The Welds held this against her and assumed that she was from a poor family, which they believed was reason enough to keep her away from her children.
Yosene naturally was not willing to give up her children, and so she boldly declined the Welds’ twisted offer. However, this left her alone and without any means to support her family. It was at this point of desperation that Yosene noticed something special about her daughter Susan. Susan was stunningly beautiful, and Yosene had an idea that would solve their financial woes.
From Modeling To Hollywood
Yosene tried to find modeling work for her daughter to make money to feed her family, which put tremendous pressure on young Weld. By the age of nine, Weld had a nervous breakdown from the overwhelming responsibilities placed on her shoulders. At ten , Weld learned that she could ease her sorrows and drown her sorrows at the bottom of a bottle. Quickly this led to Tuesday developing a significant problem with alcohol.
Yosene moved the family to Fort Lauderdale so Weld could attend school, but her addiction to alcohol continued. At 12, Weld got her first acting role in a television series and a small bit part in Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, The Wrong Man.
She Had Her First Affair At A Very Young Age
Early on in her acting career, Weld added pills on top of her booze addiction.
According to Weld, she had her first affair when she was only 11 years old, and at 12, she attempted suicide because she had fallen in love with a gay man who was unable to reciprocate her feelings. This led to her being hospitalized and falling into a coma, temporarily losing her hearing and vision. Despite her desperate pleas for psychological help, Weld’s mother refused to provide it and continued to push her daughter into the limelight.
She Never Seemed To Want Stardom
While modeling in LA, both Tuesday’s mom and the people around her began to market her in very cringe-worthy, if not potentially illegal ways. After a few years, 20th Century Fox started promoting Weld, who was only 14 at the time, as the “next Marilyn Monroe.” The studio’s publicity department even made up disturbing quotes such as “I never wear underwear. It’s much warmer with nothing on,” and Weld’s own mother described her as a “tawny blond all over” in one particularly alarming newspaper interview
Weld’s career gained a great deal of momentum with her appearance in the 1956 film Rock, Rock, Rock, and she was introduced to a much wider television audience in 1959’s The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. She had a girl-next-door charm, with a hint of danger, making her the perfect candidate for teenage fantasy. At the peak of her early fame, likely every young male in America had a crush on her, as she put off the impression that she was the kind of girl who was willing to put out under the right circumstances.
Her off-screen behavior only heightened those perceptions. She was a tabloid magnet who constantly was raising eyebrows and rousing suspicions. She was known for her outrageous statements, like, “The man I marry will have to be richer than I am,” and her mother once famously quipped that she didn’t allow her out until after 11 pm because that’s when she started her night. There were also pervasive rumors of affairs with men three times her age, and in interviews, she constantly hinted at addiction, sexual activity, and family discord.
She Turned Down Several Significant Roles
Weld’s career took an unusual turn as she turned down major movie roles like True Grit, Lolita, and Rosemary’s Baby, opting instead to do B-movies that bordered on Grindhouse.
In an interview with the “New York Times,” Weld explained that it was never her intention to chase success, and she knowingly refused those roles. Weld’s reasoning for turning down successful films is unclear, but some speculate that after being pushed for so long without receiving enough gratitude, she simply didn’t want the pressure and stress of success.
During the 70s, Weld started to move away from big screen roles after many of her films failed to make an impact on the audience or critics.
Tuesday’s wild persona was on full display in 1971 when she threw her shoe at a critic who criticized her performance in A Safe Place at the New York Film Festival.
She finally received an Academy Award nomination for her role as Diane Keaton’s troubled sister in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, but by then, she had already grown very disillusioned with Hollywood.
Despite her rejection of Hollywood, she married three times, to screenwriter Claude Harz, musician Pinchas Zukerman, and Dudley Moore. However, she found some reward in her later work, with rare appearances in films such as the 1984 Mafia series Once Upon a Time in America and 1993’s Falling Down.
Even though she retreated from the limelight and made a life in the mountains of Colorado, she has remained charmingly irreverent. When asked what drove her to isolate herself in the 1970s, she once quipped, “I think it was a Buick.”
In 2018, Weld made headlines again when she bought a home in Hollywood Hills for almost $1.8 million. Now 79 years old, in 2011, the actress was celebrated by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, who held a weeklong event featuring her works and praised her as a star with “underrated subtlety, tremendous life-force, and cream-fresh beauty.” And while she hasn’t appeared onscreen in over 20 years, she seems to be doing quite well all things considered.
Tuesday Weld’s story can be seen as a cautionary tale in several ways. Firstly, her wild behavior as a young actress, which included drug addiction, sexual activity, and family unrest, serves as a warning about the dangers of fame and the temptations that can come with it.
Her rejection of major roles in successful films like “True Grit” and “Lolita” in favor of B-movies that did not propel her career to greater heights also highlights the importance of making wise career choices.
Furthermore, her self-imposed isolation in the mountains of Colorado can be seen as a cautionary tale about the negative impact that Hollywood and the entertainment industry can have on a person’s mental and emotional well-being.
Overall, Tuesday Weld’s story serves as a reminder that the pursuit of fame and success in Hollywood can come at a great cost and that it is important to maintain a sense of perspective, make wise choices, and prioritize one’s mental and emotional health.
Did you know that Tuesday Weld had her first affair when she was 11 and that she attempted to take her own life when she was 12? Let us know in the comments. And as always, thanks for watching!
